


A Tragic Misunderstanding

by Ragnar_the_Red



Series: Dragon Prince Extras and Shorts [2]
Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Bad Parenting, Catharsis, Childhood Memories, Conflict Resolution, Insecurity, Rivalry, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:27:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24852328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ragnar_the_Red/pseuds/Ragnar_the_Red
Summary: Shortly after arriving at the Storm Spire, Soren confronts the dragon Pyrrah over her actions at Towerton. Ezran serves as a translator.
Relationships: Ezran & Soren (The Dragon Prince), Pyrrah & Soren (The Dragon Prince)
Series: Dragon Prince Extras and Shorts [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1809667
Comments: 4
Kudos: 43





	A Tragic Misunderstanding

**Author's Note:**

> Towerton is not the official name of the town attacked during S2E7. It doesn't have a name, so I decided to just make it up.

Soren's thoughts lingered on that fateful day. The number of the dead still echoed in his mind. Forty-six. Twelve of them were younger than he was.

He remembered Claudia teasing him, since she had taken the dragon down instead of him. _"Wasn't this one of your life goals?"_ she had said, her voice high-pitched, like it always was when she was making fun of him. But he didn't care in that moment.

Nearly fifty innocent people lost their lives because of his recklessness. _And because that dragon couldn't just leave us alone._ The ballista bolt had missed; it could have just left, knowing its intimidation tactic didn't work.

Or, it could have just destroyed the ballistas and been on its way. Instead, the dragon decided to try and torch the whole town, military targets be damned. They were lucky Corvus was there; the tracker did a better job of leading the townspeople to safety than Soren had ever hope for. Luckier still that a storm rolled in and put out the fires.

 _I could have at least asked Claudia if she had anything we could use._ He was the commanding officer; it was his responsibility to try to consider every possible option before taking action. _Maybe dad was right. I could never be a leader. The one time I was, I got a lot of people killed._

Now, he was sitting on the Storm Spire, not fifty feet from the very dragon he had fought. He stared at its missing horn; the one he had cut off. _Claudia probably used it to help the army cross the Breach_. _Got temporarily paralyzed so my dad and sister could lead an army of monsters here to try and kill us. Good job, Soren._

But none of this would have happened if that dragon didn't start attacking innocent people for no good reason. He stood up, and angrily walked towards the dragon.

As he got closer, fear crept into his mind. _Kinda dumb to start yelling at the giant monster that could cook me alive or fling me off the mountain._ But his anger overrode his common sense. "Hey!" he shouted at the dragon.

The winged lizard turn to face him, the pupils of its blue eyes narrowing to slits. It puffed out its chest, and stretched its wings out a bit. Soren gulped, but kept moving forward. He heard footsteps from behind him, quick small ones. "Stop, Soren! You can't fight her!" a child's voice pleaded.

He faced his young king-in-exile. "I'm not going to fight it, Ezran. I want it to explain what the hell it was thinking when it torched Towerton." He turned back to the dragon. "So are you? Why did you kill so many people who did nothing to you? Why couldn't you just leave, when you saw we couldn't be intimidated any longer!?"

Ezran grabbed his hand. "Don't yell, Soren. And don't call her an 'it'. She has a name. It's Pyrrah." The dragon rumbled, and her pupil dilated back to their normal size. "She says she wasn't trying to intimidate anyone."

"What?" Soren looked at Ezran in disbelief, and looked back at the dragon. "But... but..." He took a deep breath, and composed his thoughts. "Then why were you flying over the town for three days? Terrorizing all the people below... Why would you attack?"

It- _Pyrrah_ -rumbled again, and relaxed her body. "She was curious," Ezran translated. "She's not that old for a dragon, kind of like a kid dragon. She wanted to see what humans were like, so she started flying over Towerton from above. When you shot at her, she got scared."

Pyrrah lowered her head and looked away, almost seeming... _ashamed._ The dragon rumbled once more, a bit sad. "She thought what she heard growing up was true, that humans wanted to kill her and use her for dark magic. So she got mad, and attacked. But when Callum and I helped her, she changed her mind. She's sorry about all of it." Ezran paused briefly. "Including when she broke your back."

The anger left Soren like steam from a hot sword quenched in water. He scratched the back of his neck, and stared at the ground. Taking a deep breath, he replied: "Yeah, I'm sorry too. For shooting you, and... cutting off your horn." He looked back up, locking eyes with the dragon. "I guess we both weren't thinking straight."

He remembered the stuffed dragon he had as a child. How he adored it, cuddling with the fluffy doll when he slept. He imagined himself riding on a dragon's back, seeing the cities and countryside of Katolis from the sky. Then, he started pretending that he was fighting the dragon, and slaying it. Fantasizing about what a hero he would be, defeating the most terrible monster Xadia could throw at humans. _What changed between those two points?_ Oh, right. Dad.

The doll had been a gift from his mother, one she had made herself. Soren didn't remember much of her, to be honest. Or the main reason she and Viren couldn't get along anymore. But after they divorced, he _did_ remember his dad watching as Soren took the dragon to breakfast every morning, sitting in a chair next to him.

_"They aren't cuddly friends, Soren." Viren's gaze was disapproving, and it always made him feel even smaller. "One of them killed Sarai, our queen. And the two queens of Duren. They're monsters, not friends."_

"I never did want to disappoint dad," Soren murmured to himself. He looked back at Pyrrah, and cleared his throat. "I know it might be, um, kinda _weird_ to ask after all of this, but... Could you give me a ride on your back? I always sort of wanted to, uh, see the world from the sky. So if you want, if you'd be okay with it, that'd be... that'd be, umm... cool?"

Pyrrah rumbled. Soren turned to Ezran for a translation. The younger boy giggled a bit, and smiled up at him. "She says she will, but only if you admit she's tougher than you."

Soren would have taken offense to something like that in the past, but the prospect of actually riding a dragon was too exciting for him to even consider his ego. He knelt before the dragon and bowed his, trying not to laugh as he solemnly said: "You are my better, Lady Pyrrah. I concede that you are the stronger warrior."

The red dragon rumbled again, almost sounding happy. Pyrrah lowered herself close to the ground, and Soren didn't need Ezran to translate for him this time. He clambered onto her scaly back, finding purchase on the rough ridges. Wind blew up as she flapped her wings, and he whooped as they took off into the morning sky.


End file.
